World economy coming in for a landing

There’s little good news these days for the world economy. The Federal Reserve is now warning of a slowed U.S. recovery, if not a double-dip recession. The euro is again under pressure from its debt-ridden members. Britain is undertaking serious but politically dangerous surgery on its welfare state. Germany continues to pump out subsidized exports as though there were no tomorrow. Although still growing rapidly, India faces increased inflationary pressures. And Dubai’s collapse may be the forerunner of other misadventures in the gluttonous Persian Gulf states.

But events in China might prove to be the most dangerous for a world scene already crowded with perils. Not least is Beijing’s refusal to cooperate with the U.S., Japan and the European Union in reining in the drive by the erratic tyrannies in North Korea and Iran to move toward nuclear weapons. But the economic situation is no less worrisome.

China has simultaneously become the poster child for economic development and the chief miscreant in producing disequilibrium in the world’s finances. All this comes as Beijing prepares for a dangerous transition to a new generation of leadership, with its rapidly strengthening military increasingly rambunctious.